Each individual in the UK will write almost two million words in text messages
over their lifetime, according to a study.

In a modern take on the infinite monkey theorem, this equates to more than twice the complete works of Shakespeare (884,647 words) and almost four times Tolstoy’s epic War and Peace (561,093).

The survey asked 550 people in their twenties for the average number of words from their last 10 text messages as well as the average number of texts they had sent per day over the last month.

The results showed that the typical text consisted of 19.7 words, while the text-per-day frequency averaged at 4.2, adding up to 30,200 words a year.

Assuming participants started texting in their teens and carried on doing so until the age of 80, they will end up texting a total of 1,993,200 words.

A spokesperson for NetVoucherCodes.co.uk, which commissioned the survey, said: “The current 20-30 age bracket are the first generation to have grown up with mobile phones and most likely will be using them well into their old age.

“It’s staggering to think that we will text almost two million words over the course of our lifetime - this will probably increase for each subsequent generation as they become more reliant on instantaneous communication.

A study earlier this year found the average Brit spends two hours a day on their mobile phone, a third longer than they spent communicating with their partner.

Most of this time was made up of browsing the internet (24 minutes), checking social networks (16 mins), listening to music (15 mins) and playing games (13 mins).

Making calls and texting were only the fifth and six most popular functions on smartphones, with people spending an average of 13 and 11 minutes a day on them respectively, according to the survey.

More than 50 per cent of those polled also said they had no need for a watch or alarm clock as they only used their mobile phone to tell the time.